


and so this is christmas (war is over)

by QueenIsabelle



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Christmas AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Modern AU, Secret Santa AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28002486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenIsabelle/pseuds/QueenIsabelle
Summary: Prompt: "I was your Secret Santa at work, but I gave you some out of date chocolate by accident so now I'm buying you a drink."
Relationships: Elsa (Disney)/Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	and so this is christmas (war is over)

_and so this is christmas (war is over)_

* * *

As a child, Elsa had loved the holidays. Her parents would host a huge party on Christmas Eve which she and Anna would sneak out onto the balcony to watch. On Christmas morning, Anna would wake her up, and they’d bound down the stairs to their Christmas tree and the presents underneath it. But even before all of that stuff, Elsa loved Christmas—hot chocolate, baking cookies, making candy, singing Christmas songs. It was all so magical.

But what Elsa loved most of all was the snow.

That was the only thing that Elsa really loved about Christmas anymore since her parents had died when she was eighteen and Anna had been taken to live with their aunt and uncle in California. Elsa was left alone in New York City to finish her degree. Now, she worked for a publishing company, but she still had yet to see her sister in person. Five years was a long time to go without hugging someone that you loved.

But they video called regularly, and Anna was having a wonderful time at her school in California. Elsa couldn’t bear to bring Anna any unhappiness, so she sucked up her own and worked as much as possible to fetter off the waves of loneliness that sometimes overtook her.

There was a knock on Elsa’s office door, making her realize that she’d been reading the same sentence for the past ten minutes. Blinking, Elsa set down her pen and looked up at the knocker. It was Alice, one of the new interns. She looked lovely in her light blue dress, though Elsa had to admit that she didn’t find it very Christmas-y, not that she was one to talk about Christmas spirit in her own plain white blouse and black skirt.

“Hi, Miss Winters,” Alice said in her British accent.

“Hello, Alice,” Elsa said. “What can I do for you?”

“This is from your Secret Santa,” Alice said, bringing her hands out from behind her back and handing Elsa a wrapped box. Elsa stared at it momentarily before looking back up at Alice and smiling.

“Thank you,” Elsa said. She had bought her own Secret Santa—Belle, one of the senior editors—a themed, bookish mug and filled it with hot cocoa mix, candies, and a gift card to her favorite bookstore. Elsa may not have enjoyed Christmas as much as she used to, but she had always been a good gift-giver.

Alice didn’t move. “I'm supposed to report back with your reaction.”

“Oh.” Elsa fought the urge to groan. What was she supposed to do—gasp in delight, screech with joy? She stuck her finger under a piece of tape and lifted, tearing the paper away so that it revealed a box of chocolates. “Oh, it’s very nice.”

“You’re supposed to try a piece,” Alice added.

Elsa did groan then. Alice giggled. Elsa sighed and opened the box, taking out a piece of the chocolate and biting at a corner of it.

“It’s very—” Elsa cut herself off as the bitterness exploded on her tongue. She coughed violently for a minute and examined the box that she held in her hands. It said that it was milk chocolate with multiple different fillings, though she hadn’t bit off enough to taste any of the feeling. After a closer inspection, Elsa noticed that the expiration date was for nearly two years ago. Disgruntled, Elsa handed the box back to Alice. “Expired.”

Alice examined the box as well. “Huh. So it is. I’ll be sure to let your Secret Santa know.” She turned on her heel before Elsa could reply that, no, Alice really didn’t need to do that. But Alice was gone. Elsa sighed and ran a hand down her face before turning back to the manuscript that she was reading over.

* * *

Elsa stepped into the elevator at the end of the day, her black peacoat wrapped snugly around her and her blue scarf wound around her neck. She pressed the button for the main floor and leaned back against the wall, ready to be home and put on her pajamas. She’d bought store-bought cookies last night, and she couldn’t wait to tear into them while watching some trashy reality TV show. Anna had mentioned something about Love Island the last time they had talked—maybe she would give that a try.

“Hold the elevator!” A man’s voice called. Without thinking, Elsa flung her arm between the closing doors, forcing them open again. She thought about the time—it was nearly an hour after the publishing house had shut down. Who else would still be here this late on the day before their mini winter break?

The man sprinted into the elevator, nearly bouncing off the back wall. Elsa fought the laugh that bubbled up.

“Thanks,” the man said, turning. Elsa saw the blue eyes and the fringe of white hair under his sock cap, and her eyes went wide. Jack Frost. Of all the people to run into her elevator, of course it had to be Jack Frost. His smile dropped when he saw her as well. They both turned to face the front of the elevator as the doors finally closed, silent.

Jack Frost had come to the publishing house at the same time as Elsa, and he had been a thorn in her side ever since. He had fought with her over who got to read what manuscripts, had fought with her over who was the better editor, had fought with her over any little thing. He had called her an “ice queen,” giving her flashbacks to high school when she had grown quiet and withdrawn during the worst parts of her depression.

Elsa pursed her lips together and counted down the floors till her freedom.

“Merry Christmas,” Jack said from beside her. Elsa stiffened. Still, her parents had instilled manners into her from a young age.

“Merry Christmas,” she returned.

Jack shifted beside her as the floors continued to count down, almost as if he wanted to say something.

“I’m sorry about your gift,” he said finally.

Elsa started. “My what?”

“Your gift,” Jack said, “for Secret Santa? The chocolate?”

Elsa’s eyes widened. “That was you?”

Jack rubbed a hand across the back of his neck sheepishly. Elsa continued to stare at him.

“Where the hell did you find chocolate that was two years old? The back of your pantry?” Elsa demanded.

“No, I bought it from Wal-Mart,” Jack said defensively.

Elsa gave a derisive laugh and shook her head. He was positively unbelievable.

“Wait, that came out wrong,” he said. “I thought it would be nice, with all of the different chocolates for you to try.”

Elsa snorted. “And you just so happened to choose the one that was two years expired.”

“It was an accident!” Jack insisted. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Elsa quickly stepped outside and began walking through the lobby. “Elsa, please wait!”

Elsa did not wait. She hurried across the room, her heels clicking on the polished marble floor.

“Elsa!” Jack managed to jog in front of her and stop her from escaping through the front doors. “I truly am sorry. I wanted to make it up to you.”

Elsa paused, eyeing him warily. “How?”

“Let me buy you a drink,” Jack said. Elsa stared at him incredulously.

“You think the way to apologize to me is to force me to spend time with you?” Elsa asked.

“Elsa,” Jack said, placing his arm across the door as she tried to get around him. “Please. Let me buy you a drink, just one, and then you can leave or throw it in my face or do whatever your heart desires. But there’s a pub down the street that has a great peppermint schnapps that I really think you’ll like.”

Elsa stood there for a minute, debating. Finally, she pulled her gloves out of her coat pocket and slipped them on. “Fine, lead the way, then.”

Jack smiled—an actual smile, not a smirk. Elsa wasn’t sure that she’d ever seen him give her an actual smile. It was nice, she was surprised to find. Much better than the cocky smugness he usually reserved for her. Jack held the door open for her, and they walked out into the night, the wind cold as it whipped across their faces. Elsa kept her head down as Jack led them down the sidewalk and across the street to the corner, where there was indeed a pub.

Elsa looked up at the sign as they walked in: The Guardian’s Pub. Jack led Elsa to the bar where a large, burly man with a big, white beard stood, the sleeves of his red shirt rolled up to his elbows to expose a tattoo on each arm—Naughty and Nice. Elsa tried not to stare, but it was a little hard to draw her attention away from the sprawling tattoos.

“Hey, North,” Jack said, leaning against the counter. The man with the beard smiled widely.

“Jackson!” he cried, his voice thick with a Russian accent. “It’s so good to see you, m’boy!”

“I saw you last week,” Jack said, shaking his head with a slight smile playing at his lips. “And we’re getting together for Christmas Eve and Christmas day.”

“Christmas is a big deal!” North argued. He turned his attention to Elsa, and his smile softened. “And who is the beautiful young woman that you’ve brought with you today?”

Elsa felt her cheeks heat up. “I’m Elsa. Jack and I work together.”

North’s eyes lit up. “ _The_ Elsa?”

Elsa wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Beside her, Jack let out a loud cough.

“Elsa, this is my uncle, Nicholas St. North,” Jack said, his cheeks pink.

“You can call me North,” the older man said with a conspiratorial wink. “So, what can I get for you kids?”

“Two Candy Canes, please,” Jack said.

Elsa turned to face Jack, leaning her side against the bar as North began to make their drinks.

“I would have thought you’d have gone for a beer,” Elsa said.

“Eh, tonight’s a vodka night,” Jack said.

Elsa fought a smile. “So, what’s in a Candy Cane?”

“It’s a surprise,” Jack said with a mischievous smirk. “You’ll like it, I’m sure.”

Elsa wasn’t as certain as him, but she found that she trusted him enough to try it—for tonight, at least.

“So, what are your plans for the next couple of days?” Jack asked, blue eyes searching hers. Elsa shrank a little and turned to face the bar, letting a strand of hair escape her bun to block her view of Jack.

“Not much,” Elsa said, hoping that the tone of her voice was enough to convince him not to push.

“Gonna hang out with family?” Jack prompted. Elsa sighed but was saved from answering by the appearance of her drinks. She took a long pull from the straw.

“Oh, that is good,” Elsa said. The peppermint burst on her tongue, and was that Godiva chocolate?

Jack smiled. “I told you. You just seem like a chocolate person.”

“Is it that obvious?” Elsa thought she had hid her sweet tooth fairly well, feeling that it made her look more childish when she was going for serious. There was nothing serious about the fun-size Hershey bars she had sequestered away in various places—her purse, the console in her car, the nightstand next to her bed.

“I saw you sneaking in a bag of Kit-Kats around Halloween,” Jack told her.

“And here I thought I was being sneaky,” Elsa said, shaking her head at herself.

“I really did try to get you a nice gift,” Jack said suddenly. “I thought you might like to try different chocolates, and they had that Merci stuff at Wal-Mart. I had no idea it was so old.”

Elsa sighed and gave him a small smile. “It’s okay. It’s not like you poisoned me.”

“Not without trying,” Jack said. Elsa laughed at that, a clear bell-like sound that slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it. “So, really, what are your plans for Christmas?”

Elsa’s smile fell. “My family lives across the country. I’ll just stay at home and not do anything. My sister and I will FaceTime Christmas morning, but other than that…” Elsa shrugged. She was a little surprised at herself, at how much she had admitted to her self-proclaimed rival. But Jack seemed to genuinely care, and Elsa found that she was tired of hiding the fact that she was always alone. What was he going to do, anyway?

“You should come with us,” Jack said. Elsa blinked. She glanced over at North, who was washing glasses but was clearly also listening in on the conversation.

“The boy’s right, Miss Elsa,” North said.

Elsa shook her head. “I couldn’t impose.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Jack insisted. “We take in strays every year. Hell, I had to literally drag Bunny kicking and screaming a few years ago.”

Elsa didn’t know who Bunny was, but she didn’t like the sound of kicking and screaming. It was very unladylike, and she would most certainly not be partaking in it. Almost as if hearing her thoughts, Jack sent her a wicked smirk.

“I’ll drag you, too,” he warned.

Elsa took another sip from her drink in an effort to hide the blush that flooded her face at the look he’d sent her. Since when had she reacted to Jack Frost in such a way?

“We’d love to have you,” North added. “Jack’s mentioned you so much, everyone would be delighted to finally meet his mystery girl.”

At that, Jack flushed a bright red. Elsa looked at him curiously. At first, she’d assumed that he’d complained about her, but the things that North was insinuating…

“Are you finished with your drink, Elsa?” Jack asked, motioning to the glass in her hand. Elsa was surprised to find that she was nearly done. She drained the dregs of it and handed off her glass to North, who was waiting to take it and wash it. Jack slid his own glass across the counter towards his uncle and buttoned his coat up. “We better get going. I did promise you just one drink.”

“Yes, thank you, North,” Elsa said, directing her attention back to the large man. He winked at her and bade her goodbye. Elsa followed Jack through the pub and back out the door into the cold winter air. They walked to the parking garage in silence, and Jack still said nothing as they passed his car.

“I’m walking you to your car,” he said at her unspoken question. A warm feeling spread in her chest—who knew Jack Frost was a gentleman?

They arrived at her car, and Elsa unlocked it. She turned to face Jack, her hand on the handle.

“What time are you meeting tomorrow?” Elsa asked. At Jack’s confused glance, she clarified, “For Christmas Eve?”

A slow smile spread across his face. “I’ll pick you up at five. Is that okay?”

“That’s wonderful,” Elsa said. She opened her door and got in, starting the car and cranking the heat up. Jack waved and started to walk away, but Elsa called out to him before she could stop herself, causing him to lean down to look at her through the glass. She rolled down her window and stuck her head out, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you, Jack,” Elsa said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Dazed, Jack stepped back from her car. Elsa giggled as she backed out of the spot and drove out of the parking garage. For the first time in a long time, Elsa was actually looking forward to Christmas.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm considering writing another chapter of this... maybe of the Christmas party or a year in the future at Christmas? Thoughts?


End file.
